Technology Brings Personal Space Into
Workplace

January 25, 2007 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Despite the
fact that nearly one-half (45%) of office workers have been
explicitly informed that their at-work technology usage is
monitored, a majority still use their employers' technology
resources for personal reasons.

Seven of ten (69%) U.S. adult office workers access the
Internet at work for non-work purposes – and sixty-eight
percent are as or more likely to send or receive personal
emails on their work accounts than they were two years ago.
More than one-half (55%) send and receive personal messages
on their work email accounts, and 73% are as, or more
likely to send or receive personal emails on their work
accounts as they were two years ago.

“It’s not a mystery to most employees that their bosses
may be reading their work emails or checking out the Web
sites they visit on work computers, yet employees
apparently are more willing than ever to ignore that
potential scrutiny and engage in risky work behavior,” said
attorney Alan Kopit, legal editor of lawyers.com, in a
press release.

Younger Inclinations

Seventy-one percent of workers age 18 to 34 maintain
some type of personal Web site, the most common of which
are personal blogs or networking accounts such as those on
MySpace or Facebook maintained by 52% of young workers.
Thirteen percent currently have an online dating account.
Kopit notes that “Young people tend to live lives very
openly online, which may have unintended repercussions when
it comes to their employment.”

Young workers are also the most likely to use their
employers’ technology for personal reasons. Nearly
three-in-four (72%) check their personal email accounts
during work (compared to 61% of the general population),
and 77% use their work Internet personally (compared to 69%
of office workers overall).